Scootaloo got out of the bath and dried herself off, she looked at her mangled wings sadly. They had long since lost their burnt feathers and for the most part they were starting to look normal, aside from them having the appearance of being clipped, but she knew that underneath the nice feathers, the bones and muscles she needed to fly weren’t there. She brushed her mane and walked out to the kitchen where Rainbow Dash was making dinner.
“Hey sis, do you think my wings look well enough to stop wearing the bandages every day?” Scootaloo asked as she watched Rainbow run across the kitchen for some spice from the cupboard.
Rainbow looked over at Scootaloo and contemplated her wing’s appearance. “Maybe, if you feel okay with it, they still look kinda messed up but it’s your choice.”
“I’m not going to wear the bandages tomorrow then.” Scootaloo said decisively.
Rainbow gave her a concerned look before asking in a flat tone, “Somepony at school is bothering you about the bandages still aren’t they? It’s that Cloudwhisp again?”
“N-no,” Scootaloo said as she looked at her hooves, “it’s just that the bandages are uncomfortable that’s all.”
“Uh-huh,” Rainbow raised her eyebrow at her, “sure. I told you to just ignore him.”
“I… well… Dinner’s on fire.” Scootaloo said looking over at the stove.
“Wha- Oh crap!” Rainbow Dash turned to put out the fire on the stove, when she turned around, Scootaloo had gone.
Scootaloo ran outside and starting walking to the park. It was her favorite place to visit, especially at night. It held good memories, of her and her parents, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Rainbow had even taught her to fly here. The last thought caused her to look sadly at her wings again. She tried to flap them a couple of times but they barely moved, what little muscle her wings had were merely stubs covered in feathers.
“Scootaloo?” a voice came from behind her.
She turned to look at the pony who was trotting over to her, she stood there astounded at who it was. Cloudwhisp was looking at her curiously as he got closer. Scootaloo wanted to run away but her legs refused to move.
“So that’s what your wings look like without bandages…” Cloudwhisp said as he circled Scootaloo, she curled up trying to hide her wings. “I wondered, that’s why I always said those things about the bandages, I’d hoped you’d take them off when I made fun of them.”
Scootaloo stood there bemused, “You wanted to see my wings? Why?”
“I’ve never seen a pony who lost their wings from a lightening strike, I thought you might have been making it up just like all the other stories you tell.” Cloudwhisp said simply, continuing to circle her.
“None of the things I say are made up, everything I’ve said is true.” Scootaloo said defiantly.
“You’ve still never been able to prove any of it.”
“It’s not that I haven’t been able to prove it, it’s that every time I try to you always ignore it.” Scootaloo was getting very mad. “Even my friends are always trying to tell you the truth but you just say that they’re lying too, how can you deny something even when everypony tells you that it’s real?”
Cloudwhisp stood there with an angry look on his face, he wanted to just shout at her. Scootaloo stared right into his eyes, he looked right back but suddenly dropped his gaze to his hooves. He stood there contemplating them for a few moments.
“My mom said that I need to try to make friends and to stop being mean,” he said with a sigh, “So I’m going to tell you a secret, you can’t tell anypony, I don’t even know why I’m telling you.”
Scootaloo was more confused than ever, ‘how could he have gone to being mean to telling me his secrets.’ she thought to herself. “Okay…”
“PROMISE!” Cloudwhisp shouted.
“I promise.” she said quickly, afraid he was going to hurt her.
“I lied back when I introduced myself to the class, the reason why I moved here.” he said noticing the confused look on Scootaloo’s face. “I said that it was because my parents got a new job here, in reality they got a new job because I had trouble with some ponies back in Cloudsdale. I thought they were my friends, but they weren’t.”
Cloudwhisp started to cry, Scootaloo put her hoof around his shoulder against her better judgment.
“Sorry… One night they convinced me to stay out late and we went to the edge of the city, they dared me to walk along the edge of the clouds blindfolded. I did,” Cloudwhisp said looking up at the sky, “I fell of the side and I didn’t know how to fly, at least one of them knew how to fly but when they saw me fall they all ran away. I was falling, I couldn’t see the ground, I was very scared, I tried to flap my wings but they bent in the wind. I’m only here now because somepony saw me fall and caught me. When I took off the blindfold I saw it was Rainbow Dash who saved me, that’s why I couldn’t believe that she’s your sister. I never expected to end up so close to her. But ever since that night I’ve had problems trusting anypony, I’ve always been afraid that they’d do the same thing.”
Scootaloo stood there in shock, thoughts passing through her mind, ‘how could anypony do something like that to somepony they called a friend? And Rainbow saved him.’ She didn’t move or say anything, she just gave him a look that said, ‘I’m sorry’.
“So, are you just going to sit there and not say anything?” Cloudwhisp asked glaring at her.
“I just… wow, that’s a lot to take in.” she said still staring at him. “How come you haven’t told anypony this and why me, you always made fun of me, why me of all ponies to tell?”
“I- I uh… I don’t know why I told you, I just did. I- and uh… It doesn’t matter!” Cloudwhisp said as he turned and ran.
“Cloudwhisp, wait!” Scootaloo called after him.
Scootaloo watched as Cloudwhisp bumped into somepony standing not too far away from them. Cloudwhisp got up and started to appologize to the pony but stopped and stared, it was Rainbow Dash.
“So you’re Cloudwhisp?” she asked him with a menacing tone. “You’re the one who’s been giving Scootaloo a hard time?”
“Rainbow wait.” Scootaloo said as she ran up to them.
Cloudwhisp wasn’t taking any chances, as soon as Rainbow Dash looked up at Scootaloo’s call, he ran past, heading home as fast as he could.
“Why did you do that?” Rainbow asked, “I was just about to give him a piece of my mind.”
“You don’t need to anymore, he explained why he made fun of me.” Scootaloo told Rainbow everything that Cloudwhisp had told her then asked, “When you were in Cloudsdale one time you saved him, you really don’t recognize him?”
“I’ve saved quite a few ponies from falling off of the edge of Cloudsdale, I’m not going to remember every single one.”
They started walking home. “How did you know I was in the park anyways?” Scootaloo asked looking up at Rainbow.
“I didn’t, I wandered around town before I thought of looking in the park, you were gone almost an hour.”
“Wow, it didn’t feel that long.”
“Come on, dinner’s getting cold and I want to get home before it gets too late.” Rainbow said as she started to trot faster.
Scootaloo kept pace with Rainbow and didn’t say anything else. Dinner was quiet and they went straight to bed afterwards.
‘What was he doing out there anyways?’ Scootaloo thought as she raised the blanket to her neck. ‘Did he follow me there, or was it just a coincidence?’
Scootaloo drifted to an uncomfortable sleep, thoughts about him running wild through her head. The thoughts changed slowly to old memories as she started to dream.
***
She was walking with Rainbow Dash and the others, most of them looked fine but a few of them were wearing bandages here and there, Pinkie had something on her hind leg that kept it from bending and Rarity had a set of wheels so that her front legs couldn’t touch the ground. Rainbow was trotting faster than everypony else, Twilight caught her attention to the fact that Scootaloo was falling behind.
Rainbow Dash stopped and offered to carry Scootaloo, she climbed up and put her face in Rainbow’s mane. “Are you alright kiddo?” Rainbow asked.
Scootaloo merely shook her head, she didn’t feel like talking much. “I understand, I know it’s hard losing the ponies you love.” Rainbow said quietly.
They came up on the site where the burial was taking place, Scootaloo didn’t want to get off of Rainbow’s back but she was forced to. There were about a dozen ponies standing around the two caskets placed right next to the two holes they would be put in. Mayor Mare was calling ponies up to say a few words for the two and their goodbyes. Scootaloo and the others listened to what everypony had to say, tears falling from their faces but the saddest face there was Scootaloo’s. It was her turn to say her goodbyes.
“Mom, Dad,” her voice cracked as she spoke, “I love you both, and I’ll miss you so much.” She turned to the ponies gathered around, “My parents were good ponies, they were loving and they cared so much about me. They’d let me do practically whatever I wanted but when I came home hurt they would always scold me but they’d never stay mad at me long. My mother would always make sure that the injuries were nothing serious and my dad would sit there asking me if I learned anything from what went wrong. I’d always turn it into a joke and say, ‘I learned that I’m not going to get my cutie mark in…’ whatever I got hurt from and he’d slowly start to laugh.” Scootaloo’s face was now soaked with tears, “I’m never going to forget them, I love them so much.”
Scootaloo slowly walked back over by Rainbow Dash’s side, Rainbow put her wing over Scootaloo reassuringly. Mayor Mare said a few more words and then they started lowering the caskets into the graves. Scootaloo stepped up first, grabbed a hoof full of dirt each and let it fall into the graves. Everypony else then did the same, a hoof full in one then the other, saying their last goodbye and moving for the next to do the same.
After everypony had dropped some dirt into the graves, a pair of ponies started shoveling the rest of the dirt into the holes, filling the graves. Scootaloo and the others waited until the graves were completely filled but the others left before. Scootaloo stepped up and read the gravestone the two graves shared and lay there crying. Rainbow walked up to her slowly and lay next to her, wrapping her in her wings. The others waited until Scootaloo was finished and they all walked away together.
There were many white roses piled up at the foot of the gravestone but only one violet. The flower that matched her mane sat there mixed in with the roses, the final sentiment of a young filly who loved them.
Scootaloo frowned in her sleep as tears started streaming from her dreaming eyes.